Naumai e te whanau o te kura Muritai
Kia ora koutou
We have made it through to the end of the term in one piece. The children have had a challenging week weather wise and have done so well. The last thing you need after a big and energetic term is a wet week for your last week. We survived!
We have had great success this week with our Tournament of Minds and Epro8 winning their respective science, technology and engineering competitions. The TOM team is busy fundraising to raise the necessary funds to get them to Sydney. We thank you so much for your generosity in supporting the team so far.
Next term is busy! We have a lot to get through before we can close the school for 2015. We have listed some initial dates in the newsletter for your diaries. Take note of the Athletics sports date as that is a traditional family experience.
We have had a lot of parent, family and community support this term and we continue to be humbled by the huge amount our parents and communities give to our school to widen the scope of what we can achieve. Hopefully the spirit of the school can retain this support as we press on what will be our busiest term of the year. As always please keep in close touch with your child’s class teacher if you need to. This helps keep on top of student progress and achieving goals and milestones.
SHAKE OUT
Muritai School have signed up to participate in New Zealand ShakeOut 2015 along with over half a million other school kids, 70,000 preschoolers, 112,000 university/polytech students, and over 288,000 people from businesses and other organisations across the country. Civil Defence Emergency Management groups all over New Zealand are putting in an enormous effort to make sure their regions are ready to ShakeOut.
Muritai will be ensuring that all pupils and staff know what to do in an earthquake and will be practising our ‘drop, cover and hold’ and then taking part in a Tsunami drill. Teachers will talk to their class about earthquakes and what to expect. We will also be communicating with parents via Facebook to keep you informed of what is happening at Muritai School on the day. If you would like to follow us on Facebook and receive notifications, simply text 8987 and type in follow MuritaiSchool (no space between Muritai and School) and you will receive updates, and messages, direct to your cell phone.
Everyone, everywhere should know the right action to take before, during and after an earthquake. You can help make sure your friends, family, partners, suppliers and community know the right action to take by sharing the ShakeOut with them. For more information check out the ShakeOut celebrity videos (www.youtube.com/nzgetthru) on Facebook (www.facebook.com/nzgetthru/videos), Twiiter (www.twitter.com/nzgetthru), websites and other social media channels.
YEAR 3/4 FELTING WORKSHOPS WITH CLARE LENISTON
Over the last couple of weeks, some of our Year 3/4 children have been attending art extension workshops to learn the craft of Needle Felting with Clare Leniston. They began needle felting pictures and then progressed to 3D penguins!
TOURNAMENT OF MINDS
On Saturday 19September, Muritai’s T.O.M. group won the finals! The team had to get up really early (we had to get there at 8.30 ON A WEEKEND) to make it to the challenge, but we all managed to make it there intact. We began our challenge at 9 o’clock, and as soon as it started, we entered lockdown mode, meaning that we couldn’t leave the room (apart from toilet breaks), and couldn’t access any of our stuff (apart from food).
We were then given 3 hours to complete our challenge with the materials provided. Our challenge was to build a musical instrument, with 2 strings, that made 2 different notes each, making four notes altogether.
We quickly divided ourselves into two groups, as soon as we had gotten a preliminary look at the materials. One group would build the instrument, the other, the story. Building the instrument wasn’t too hard, and we got it finished far before our time was up, giving the people who would play it plenty of time to practice. Our story was the thing that took the longest time however, cutting it close enough that we had to practice in our cleaning up time!
We’ll soon be heading to Sydney because, well, we won! On Saturday 18th October the Australasian-Pacific finals will be held in Sydney, and thanks to everyone who donated to our team, we’ll be able to go to represent our country!
If you want to help us out a bit more and see a great movie, we’ll be holding a movie night at the Lighthouse Cinema on Wednesday 7th October for the movie Pan! The tickets cost $20 each - please contact Jane Van der Wilt on 562-7476. As well as that there is also a 3D Cake Raffle going on. Fliss from Cotti in Days Bay is giving you the chance win a child’s birthday cake of your choice to the value of $250, it’s $2 for one raffle ticket, or $10 for six. The tickets can be purchased at the office or from Cotti. Thank you Fliss for helping us.
Joshua Toomath
EPRO8
Congratulations to Oscar Zuijderwijk, Evie Wilson, Dan Walker, Luke Thompson for winning the first Wellington Epro8 challenge on Wednesday. This challenge required creativity, scientific thought, and considerable engineering and problem-solving skills. Most of all the team showed an advanced ability to work together as a team with patience as they worked through the various challenges until they completed their project. This is an outstanding achievement so well done team and well done To Mr Woodhams, the team coach. The year 7-8 team made it to the finals but did not secure a place. Well done all.
FACEBOOK AND TWITTER
With many parents now on Facebook you can access information and school news events via Facebook. Presently we have had about 330 'friends' which we would like to increase. You can sign up to Muritai School's Facebook page and therefore get regular updates of events. Click here to join up.
Alternatively, if you are not on Facebook you can also receive these updates straight to your cellphone via Twitter. Simply text 8987 and type in follow MuritaiSchool and you will receive updates, simple messages, reminders and cancellations direct to your cell phone.
NETBALL PRIZEGIVING
Thank you to the group of parents who initiated a lovely family event to celebrate the netball season at the RSA on Sunday. Teams and families mixed and mingled and each team was celebrated with coaches sharing thoughts on the progress each child had made across the season and took a moment to celebrate the success of each team and our grade winners.
JIGSAW PUZZLES AGE 8+
Do you have any jigsaw puzzles you have finished with. The school would love to have them. Please drop them off at the school office.
TERM DATES FOR 2016
The Board has set the dates for 2016. Please enter these into your calendars -
Term 1 Monday 1 February to Friday 15 April
(Easter is Friday 25 March through to and including Tuesday 29 March
Term 2 Monday 2 May to Friday 8 July
Tuesday 7 June - Teacher Only Day
Term 3 Monday 25 July to Friday 23 September
Term 4 Monday 10 October to Friday 16 December
Tuesday 25 October - Teacher Only Day
SPORTS
Cross Country
Macey Caughley and Greta Woolloff travelled to Blenheim to participate in the inter-regional Cross Country competition yesterday. Macey came second for the third year in a row in a very competitive field of year 8 girls with Greta placing 15th in her first year of competing. A great achievement girls.
Year 3 and 4 Football in Schools
Despite the weather, we still managed to complete our eight Year 3 and 4 Football in Schools sessions! The programme is a fun way to learn football and the children have enjoyed the sessions immensely with Stu and his coaching crew. The children have developed their football skills including agility, spatial awareness and team-work.
Touch Rugby
The final date for cut of for touch rugby is Friday 2 October. Can you please e-mail Anand Ranchod on ranchod@muritai.school.nz if you would like your child to play.
COMMUNITY NOTICES
Guitar lessons are available at Muritai School
I have spaces for children Year 3 and up to learn guitar. The lessons are 30 minutes long, and will take place in groups of up to 4 pupils. The cost is $12 per lesson.
Each pupil will need to supply a clearfile to bring to the lesson each week, and a guitar to play at home.
Contact details:
Charles Hazlewood
music.box@paradise.net.nz
(04) 934-2759, 029-9392759
Fun French for kids at Muritai School for ages 5-12
- Experience French learning the fun way!
- Lots of interactive activities, role play, crafts, active games and music, and cooking
- Free trial lesson
- To register your interest please contact Stefi on Stefi@funlanuages.co.nz or phone 562 8211
visit the website www.lcfclubs.co.nz
Lower Hutt Athletics Club is taking registrations for the 2015/16 summer season. Registration Wednesday 30 September from 6.30pm, at the upstairs long room, Hutt Rec Grandstand. Or go to www.lhaac.org.nz and click the 'Join us' tab.
GET SET GO Athletics is coming back to Eastbourne this summer.
Athletics Wellington is again offering Eastbourne children the chance to have a go in this fun athletics programme - GET SET GO!
GET SET GO is an Athletics NZ programme that helps children develop the skills they need so they can choose and enjoy being more active through play and sport. It emphasises fun and positive aspects of children's performance. Lots of great activities for kids and their parents to have fun with.
The programme will run on a Tuesday evening from 5.30pm to 6.30pm at the HW Shortt Recreation Ground in Eastbourne for a 10-week period split before and after Christmas. The first 5-week block starts on Tuesday 20 October and the post-Christmas 5-week block starts on Tuesday 8 February. The programme is for children aged 4 to 7 years old and costs $70 per child for the 10 weeks.
Contact Jo Murray at Athletics Wellington for further info on 021 976116 or jo@athleticswellington.org.nz
Eastbourne Library School Holiday Programme.
Week 1: Friday 2 October 11am. "Mad Hatter's tea party". Join us for a wonder filled session of stories and fun. Come dressed as your favourite character from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
Week 2: Friday 9 October 11 am. "I wonder what's in the back room?". Are you brave enough to open the door and explore? Come along and discover the secrets of the library's back room.
SHUNT ONLINE COURIER SERVICE
Shunt donates $1 to your school each time you send a parcel with any of these Couriers or NZ Post:
New Zealand Post, Courier Post, New Zealand Couriers, Castle Parcels, Post Hate, Fastway Couriers, TNT, DHL
Select your school and enter this promo code: BGM186
Food for Thought – School Holiday Cooking Classes
Food for Thought is pleased to offer cooking classes for kids these school holidays. Be in quick as places are limited! Max 8 per session. Classes will be held at the St Alban’s Church commercial kitchen.
Monday 5th & Tuesday 6th October
10am -2pm (4 hours per session)
Cost: $45 per child, per session (price includes everything and a yummy LUNCH!)
To book, text Megan 022 HOT MEAL (0224686325) or email info@fft.co.nz.
October School Holiday Childrens Theatre - Duck Death and the Tulip - 6th October at 10am or 11.30am at Little Theatre, 2 Queens Drive, Lower Hutt .... contact Sarah on 021 042 1851 or info@littledogbarking.co.nz or visit our website www.littledogbarking.co.nz. Age suitability 2 - 100 years old!
DRUMMING AT MURITAI
There are a few spots available for drum lessons for year 3 upward (about 5) for next term. Pick up a permission slip from the office if you are interested.
